1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of ice dispensing systems for refrigerators and, more particularly, to the configuration and support of a baffle plate incorporated in an ice dispensing assembly of a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is now common practice to provide an automatic ice maker within a freezer compartment of a refrigerator and to further provide a system for dispensing the ice into a recessed receiving area formed in a front panel of the refrigerator. In essence, these systems provide for the automatic filling of ice cube trays which are emptied into a collecting bin following a freezer period. From the collecting bin, the ice can be delivered to the receiving area by the selective activation of a delivery system carried by the collecting bin. Most often, such an ice dispensing system will incorporate a mechanism whereby the ice can be selectively crushed prior to reaching the receiving area.
In the industry, there has been proposed various different systems to accomplish this ice dispensing function. In general, the systems differ in the particular manner in which the cubed and crushed ice are delivered to the receiving area and the way in which the ice is actually crushed. With respect to the manner in which the cubed and crushed ice are delivered, it is known in the art to incorporate two doors in an ice dispensing system with one of the doors functioning to direct cubed ice to the crushing area and the other door being used to deliver the cubed or crushed ice to the receiving area. Therefore, depending upon the position of a user-controlled selector unit, either one or both of the doors will be open for the delivery of ice. In another known arrangement, an ice delivery system is mounted for rotation in opposite directions for dispensing the cubed and crushed ice respectively.
Regardless of the particular ice delivery system utilized, it is desirable to provide a smooth and consistent flow rate of ice to the receiving area. Unfortunately, the known ice delivery systems generally suffer from either an inherent time delay in the delivery of cubed ice following a crushed ice dispensing operation and/or, upon dispensing cubed ice for the first time after dispensing crushed ice, an avalanche of remaining crushed ice is received. In attempting to adequately control the flow rate of ice towards the receiving area and to prevent undesirable wedging of any ice cubes which could result in jamming of the overall ice delivery system, it has become known to provide a baffle plate within the ice delivery path and to form the baffle plate with an enlarged opening through which the ice cubes must be directed as they flow from the collecting bin to the receiving area. A fair amount of emphasis has been placed on particularly designing the configuration of the passage provided in the baffle plate in an attempt to assure a smooth flow of ice through the system, while also preventing system jamming. For this reason, the passage is generally configured to guide the cubes of ice to a certain cut-off point or zone defined along a forward edge of the passage. If the ice cubes can be properly guided through the baffle plate and to a final ice delivery unit that forms part of the ice crushing mechanism, jamming of the system by the improper wedging of the ice cube can be avoided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,777 is representative of prior art attempts to design a more effective baffle plate passage configuration in order to avoid the wedging of ice cubes. In accordance with this patent, a leading, cut-off edge of the baffle passage extends substantially linearly and terminates at an inner cut-off point. This point is arranged adjacent to, but radially spaced from, a central hub of a drum dispenser provided to direct the ice cubes through the passage. It is to this point that the ice cubes are directed or guided along the cut-off edge during dispensing of the ice cubes. With this arrangement, stresses are concentrated on this point and, given the location of the point relative to surrounding support structure, a location for premature fatigue failure exists. In other words, since this point represents the location at which ice cubes are forced through the passage of the baffle plate, high stress loads are created at this point during operation of the dispensing system. In addition, since the point is located radially outwardly of the central hub of the dispensing drum, a lack of support directly at this point increases the probability of cracking of the baffle plate along a fault line extending from this cut-off point.
The possibility of fatigue failure of such a baffle plate arrangement becomes more evident when it is realized that approximately fourteen ice cubes are needed for supplying a single glass with crushed ice and that an ice dispensing assembly is generally designed to perform in the order of 100,000 cycles over its effective life. In addition, to reduce manufacturing costs, it is desirable to manufacture the baffle plates out of plastic and, due to both cost and space constraints, to provide a plate which is quite thin, i.e., generally in the order of 1/8 of an inch thick.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for an improved ice dispensing assembly which can assure a smooth and consistent flow rate of ice from a collecting bin to a receiving area, while providing a baffle member having a passage that is particularly configured to enable ice cubes to be guided therethrough in an enhanced manner, while minimizing the possibility of any fatigue failure thereof.